A casket has a shell and a lid or pair of lids pivoted to the shell by a hinge. Caskets also typically include a “brace,” a mechanism to retain the lid in the open position and to prevent the lid inadvertently closing. Examples of casket brace mechanisms are shown in the assignee's U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,959,859 and 5,570,493, hereby incorporated by reference herein. Caskets also typically include a locking mechanism to lock the lid in the closed position. Examples of casket lock mechanisms are shown in the assignee's U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,060,993, 5,503,439, 5,966,786 and 6,154,938, hereby incorporated by reference herein.
A casket which includes a lid hinge, a lid brace, and a lid lock thus may have as many as three separate mechanisms for accomplishing the hinging, bracing, and locking functions. The number of such separate mechanisms, and the combined total number of parts of the mechanisms, increases the cost of manufacturing the casket.